1. Full name of PhD student: Nguyen Minh Ha 2. Gender: Female
3. Date of birth: February 2, 1993 4. Place of birth: Hanoi
5. Decision on recognition of PhD students No. 3684/2015/QD-XHNV, dated December 31, 2015
6. Changes in the training process:
- Change the topic name: "Identity formation in adolescents" changed to "Personal identity characteristics in adolescents", March 9, 2018
- Thesis extension: 1 year (from December 31, 2019 to December 31, 2020)
7. Thesis topic: Personal identity characteristics in adolescents
8. Major: Psychology 9. Code: 62 31 04 01
10. Scientific advisors: Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Minh Hang and Associate Professor, Dr. Bui Thi Hong Thai
11. Summary ofnew resultsof the thesis:
The thesis is an initial, systematic scientific research work on the identity status of adolescents. The research results have the following new points:
11.1. About theory
- The research trends in the overview show that the issue of identity is studied from the content approach and the process approach. Marcia's identity status theory touches both of these aspects, thus it is used as the main approach in the thesis.
- The thesis selects a number of individual and interpersonal psychological factors that are related to personal identity to examine as influencing factors. Those factors include: self-esteem, interdependent happiness, self-efficacy, locus of control, parenting behavior, peer attachment, and school experience.
- The thesis presents the theoretical basis according to the identity status approach in a systematic way and specifically presents the research methods used.
11.2. In practice
- In reality, the identity status of adolescents is mainly distributed into the group of deferred identity, followed by ambiguous identity; lost identity and achieved identity account for a small proportion. Cross-sectional research provides suggestions that there is an age-related movement towards more advanced identity and a gradual decrease in the proportion of the remaining identity groups. There is a difference when comparing this result with studies in the West, the cultural context of the community has an impact on this difference.
- The socio-political domain is most prominent in identity, while the spiritual domain is less present in identity, and peer relationships seem to still play a more important role than intimate relationships during this stage.
- In addition, there were significant differences in terms of gender, age group, education level, place of residence, and most significant person for the individual on some identity status scores. Cross-tabulation analysis on the categorized identity statuses showed that female subjects appeared to be more mature than male subjects in exploring relationship identity.
- The individual and interpersonal psychological factors considered in the study showed a certain impact on the scores of identity states, but all at a low level. In particular, low self-esteem and low self-efficacy predicted ambiguous identity under the moderation of age factor. Logistic regression model testing showed the risk factors and promoting factors for each identity state. On that basis, the thesis recommends a preventive program to support identity development for adolescents, including 4 groups of content: Life skills training for adolescents, organizing teaching and learning suitable for the developmental characteristics of adolescents, improving knowledge and skills for parents through seminars, and building quality, practical extracurricular activities.
12. Practical application:
Drawing from the research results, to support adolescents in developing their identity, we found that it is necessary to focus on the personal and interpersonal aspects of adolescents. For the personal aspect, we propose to improve self-esteem, strengthen the internal locus of control, and enhance the effective self of the individual. For the interpersonal aspect, we propose some changes from the family, specifically effective parenting behaviors, ways to build close friendship relationships, and innovation in schools in organizing meaningful learning activities and practical, highly experiential extracurricular activities.
13. Further research directions:
Firstly, research on personal identity in Vietnamese adolescents needs to take into account cultural adaptation more when operationalizing the concept of identity. Specifically, the connotation of the concept of identity is composed of areas and aspects that are close to the Vietnamese people's sense of personal identity.
Second, conduct research on a larger population in terms of both numbers and demographic factors. For example, explore how adolescents who do not attend school, drop out early, or pursue careers immediately after graduation have different identity development characteristics compared to adolescents who continue their education.
Third, continue to conduct research to expand longitudinal data. This provides authentic bases for more comprehensive shaping of personal identity development in Vietnamese adolescents.
14. Published works related to the thesis:
- Nguyen Minh Ha (2018), “James E. Marcia's identity status theory in the study of personal identity in adolescents”,Proceedings of the Conference on Psychology and Sustainable DevelopmentVolume 2, Hong Duc Publishing House, pp.107-116.
- Nguyen Minh Ha (2021), “Identity status in adolescents and its relationship with self-esteem”,Journal of Psychology, 1(262), pp.60-75.
- Nguyen Minh Ha (2021), “Identity status in adolescents: a cross-sectional study on Vietnamese adolescents”,Journal of Psychology, 8(269), pp.79-97.
INFORMATION ON DOCTORAL THESIS
1. Full name: Nguyen Minh Ha 2. Sex: Female
3. Date of birth: 02 February 1993 4. Place of birth: Hanoi
5. Admission decision number: 3684/2015/QD-XHNV, dated 31 December 2015
6. Changes in academic process:
- Change of thesis title: From “Identity formation in adolescents” to “Personal identity traits in adolescents”, dated 09 March 2018
- Thesis extension: 1 year (from 31 December 2019 to 31 December 2020)
7. Official thesis title: Personal identity traits in adolescence
8. Major: Psychology 9. Code: 62 31 04 01
10. Supervisors: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thi Minh Hang and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bui Thi Hong Thai
11. Summary of thenew findingsof the thesis:
Being the first systematic scientific work on the identity status in adolescence, the thesis shows new results as follows:
11.1. Theoretical results
- Research trends in the overview indicate that identity issues are studied from content approach and process approach. Marcia's theory of identity status touches both of these aspects, and is therefore used as the main approach in the thesis.
- The thesis chooses a number of personal and interpersonal psychological factors that are related to personal identity to survey as investigated factors. These include: self-esteem, interdependent happiness, self-efficacy, locus of control, parenting behavior, friendship attachment, and school experiences.
- The thesis presents the theoretical basis according to identity status approach in a systematic way and specifically presents the research methods used.
11.2. Practical results
- The identity status in adolescence is mainly distributed into the group of moratorium identity, followed by diffusion identity; foreclosure identity and achievement identity take a small proportion. Cross-sectional studies provide suggestions that there is an age-related movement towards more advanced identity and decreased movement towards the remaining identity groups. There is a difference when comparing these results with studies in the West, the collective context may have an impact on this difference.
- Sociopolitical perspective is the most prominent field in teenagers's identity, while spirituality field is faintly present in identity; peer relationships seem to play a more important role than romantic relationships in adolescence.
- Besides, there are significant differences in identity status scores in terms of gender, age group, education level, place of residence and significant other. Cross-table analysis on classified identity statuses shows that female seems to be more mature than male in exploring interpersonal identity.
- The personal and interpersonal pschological factors in the study show a certain impact on the score of different identity statuses, but all are low. In which, low self-esteem and low self-efficacy predict identity diffusion under the moderation of age factors.
- Logistic regression model testing reveals the risk factors and precipitating factors affecting on each identity status. On that basis, the thesis recommends a prevention program to support identity development in adolescents, including 4 groups of activities: training life skills for adolescents, organizing an appropriate teaching-and-learning environment for adolescents according to their characteristics of psycho-physiological development, enhancing knowledge and skills for parents through workshop, and developing more practical extracurricular activities.
12. Practical applicability:
Drawing from the research results, in order to support adolescents to develop their identities, it is necessary to focus on the individual and interpersonal aspects of adolescents. For the personal aspect, we suggest that it is necessary to help adolescents improve self-esteem, strengthen the internal locus of control, and improve the self-efficacy. For the interpersonal aspect, we recommend effective parenting for parents, ways to build strong peer relationships, and some changes in school such as organizing meaningful learning activities and practical extracurricular activities for students.
13. Further research directions:
First, research on personal identity among Vietnamese parents needs to pay more attention to cultural adaptation when operating the concept of identity. specifically, it should be composed of areas and aspects that are close to the Vietnamese people's sense of personal identity.
Second, conduct research on a larger group of subjects in terms of both sample size and demographic factors. For example, find out how teenagers who don't go to school, drop out of school early, or get career guidance right after graduation have distinctively different identity development compared to teenagers who continue on to higher education.
Third, continue to do longitudinal research. It provides solid grounds for a more comprehensive formulation of identity development in Vietnamese adolescents.
14. Thesis-related publications:
- Nguyen Minh Ha (2018), “James E. Marcia's identity status theory in adolescent identity research”,Proceedings of Conference on Psychology and Sustainable DevelopmentVolume 2, Hong Duc Publishing House, pp.107-116.
- Nguyen Minh Ha (2021), “Identity status in adolescence and its relationship with self esteem”,Journal of Psychology, 1(262), pp.60-75.
- Nguyen Minh Ha (2021), “Identity status in adolescence: a cross-sectional study of Vietnamese adolescents”,Journal of Psychology, 8(269), pp.79-97.
